Not the first video Bhat posted on Sachin Tendulkar

What began as an impersonation of Sachin Tendulkar on his birthday has backfired in spectacular fashion for comedian Tanmay Bhat.

The first video Bhat posted on social networking app Snapchat was on April 24. The comedian, using a feature that allows users to swap their face with another person’s, in this case Tendulkar’s, began by thanking his followers for their ‘birthday wishes’ in a voice that we know distinctly to be the Little Master’s.

The video then descends into a verbal assault on Tendulkar’s childhood friend and fellow cricketer Vinod Kambli. Crass? Perhaps. Funny? Maybe not to everyone, but the video got enough likes and comments for the comedian to follow it up with several others – one of Tendulkar yelling at those posting plot spoilers online from the latest season of popular television show Game of Thrones, another that mocks the cricketer’s most famous advertisements, a third with a not-so-veiled reference to match-fixing allegations against Mohammad Azharuddin, whose biopic released this month.

But it is the two videos, titled Sachin vs Lata #civilwar — with a disclaimer by Bhat saying “I make such nonsense on my Snapchat” — that have landed him in trouble.

In the past couple of days, the videos have attracted several negative comments that mock the comedian for his ‘lack of respect for legends’ and several get personal. But the backlash actually started on Twitter on Saturday, when actors Anupam Kher and Riteish Deshmukh and politician Aaditya Thackeray, made their displeasure known. “I am 9 times winner of #BestComicActor. Have a great sense of humor. But This’s NOT humor. #Disgusting&Disrespectful,” tweeted Kher.

But Bhat has found support from fellow comedians such as Rohan Joshi and author Chetan Bhagat. Bhat, himself, seems to find humour in the situation with a sarcastic and subsequently misunderstood tweet on Monday that said “Please pay me @Snapchat”.

And he is certainly no stranger to controversy. Last year, All India Bakchod found themselves in the line of fire after an expletive-laden roast on actors Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, which was posted by the group online, received similar backlash, probably prompting the comedian to tweet on Sunday, “Roast wale din yaad aa gaye by god.”